


Sleeping Beauty

by RocknVaughn



Category: Humans (TV)
Genre: A Bit of Fluff, Angst, F/M, Leotilda, post 3x02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-05-14 20:39:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14776875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RocknVaughn/pseuds/RocknVaughn
Summary: After Max has forced Leo to leave the Railyard, he wonders why Mattie is so willing to take him in.





	Sleeping Beauty

~o~

 

 

Leo’s hand slumped back down to his side listlessly as the Railyard grew smaller and smaller, finally winking out of sight behind a hill as they rumbled toward town in the back of the truck.

“I can’t believe it,” he said finally, with a dazed shake of the head. “I can’t believe he’s sent me away.”

“He’s trying to protect us,” Mattie replied, sliding across the truck bed so that she was right next to him, her body warmth radiating all along Leo’s side.

“But he doesn’t have to. I’ve always fought this battle with him. I don’t understand.”

“I don’t either,” Mattie agreed. “The Max you just saw was not the Max I met at the gate to the Railyard two days ago. Something’s happened to change him since then. I mean, there was the bombing, and then the raid, but that doesn’t seem like enough for Max to just about-face like that.”

Leo picked at a pill on the fabric of his joggers. “I don’t know what to do now, Mattie. Where will I go?” Leo sighed mournfully. “I don’t know how to do this alone.”

Mattie threaded her fingers through Leo’s. “You’re not alone,” she insisted. “You have me, and I’m not going anywhere.”

Leo’s mouth quirked up at the corner as he stared at their enjoined hands. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“So, what happens now?”

Mattie held up her mobile. “Now I text Mum and let her know you’re coming home with me.”

Leo’s brow furrowed. “Can’t imagine Laura will appreciate that too much.”

Mattie looked at him incredulously. “Leo, have you _met_ my Mum?”

“...Yes?”

Mattie nudged against Leo with her shoulder. “What I meant was, she would never think of you as a burden. You’re Mia’s son; that alone would be reason enough to take you in. But you also saved her from Hester. That means a lot as well.”

“Did I?”

“Well…” Mattie hedged. “You _tried_ to, and that’s what counts.”

 

~o~

 

Just as Laura was getting settled at the Dryden Commission’s conference room table after their afternoon break, her mobile buzzed. Laura fished it out of her blazer pocket with the intention of setting it to silent when she saw the message.

_Mattie: Am coming home today. Bringing a friend._

Laura frowned. If Mattie had gone where Laura thought she had, then who could she possibly have in tow? After their disagreement a few days ago, she half-hoped it was Mia, although the complications involved in that development would far outweigh the benefit at the moment.

_Who?_

The answer was almost immediate.

_Mattie: Sleeping Beauty_

Colour drained from Laura’s face. _Leo_ was with her? But he’d been in a coma since Day Zero... How was that possible?

Stanley leaned forward and inquired softly, “You appear distressed, Laura. May I pour you some water?”

“Yes, please,” she replied as she wiped a shaky hand across her face.

Across the table, Dr. Sommer tilted his head and raised an eyebrow at her in silent question. _Are you all right?_

She replied to his unvoiced query with a silent nod.

_How?_

_Mattie: Later. Can we use the spare bedroom?_

_Yes, of course. Whatever you need._

_Mattie: See you tonight. X_

Laura set her phone on silent and stowed it in her purse, her mind flooded with questions as she sipped her sparkling water and tried to calm her racing pulse.

 

~o~

 

“See?” Mattie said, stowing her mobile in her backpack. “What did I tell you?”

“I...don’t know what to say.”

Mattie shrugged. “Then don’t say anything. It’s fine.”

Leo didn’t say anything. He leaned his head back against the glass wearily, but his hand sought Mattie’s, and when he found it again, he enclosed it in his and gently squeezed into her skin the feelings he couldn’t voice.

The next few minutes passed in comfortable silence, their hands joined, yet each of them wrapped up in their own thoughts.

Then the truck pulled over onto the grass beside the lane and the ignition was turned off. Mattie frowned while Leo looked about at the farmland that was just starting to give way to houses. A moment later, Gordon appeared at the tail end of the truck and disengaged the gate.

At Mattie’s look of confusion, he explained, “I apologize for the distance, but I dare not go into town after what happened to Flash and Julian yesterday.”

Mattie’s eyes shot to the synth’s face, wide with shock. “What happened to them?”

“They were ambushed and beaten to death by humans while in town gathering supplies.”

Mattie gasped. “Oh my God. Are you sure?”  

Gordon lowered his eyes. “Sadly, yes. After the attack, they had been strung up in the trees at the border of the Railyard. I was the one that discovered them.”

Leo looked between Mattie and Gordon, sensing that he was missing some essential piece of information, but didn’t dare interrupt the exchange to ask.

Mattie leaned forward and grasped Gordon’s wrist. “I am so sorry,” she said. “Those sorts of things should not be happening to you. I wish I could do something.”

Gordon accepted the comfort for a moment and then pulled back. “Would that there were more humans that felt like that.”

“Maybe someday there will be.”

Gordon nodded and then turned toward Leo. “Allow me to assist you,” he said and stretched out an arm.

Leo slid forward and the synth effortlessly helped him to the ground while Mattie grabbed both hers and Leo’s backpacks.

“The train station is point three seven miles in that direction,” Gordon said, nodding down the road they were on.

Mattie was well aware of where the train station was, having used it several times in the past, but Gordon had no way of knowing that so she just thanked him. “And please tell your leader that I am sorry for his loss,” she added softly.

  


~o~

 

Leo had started out walking on his own, but it wasn’t long before Mattie could see the leaden weight of fatigue in his steps and the sweat of exertion on his face. Pulling him off the road and under the shade of a tree, she suggested, “Why don’t we rest for a bit?”

Leo slumped gracelessly against the trunk and slid down to sit on his bottom. “Are you humouring me?”

Mattie plopped down next to him and fished a full bottle of water from her bag. “You just woke up from a coma twelve hours ago. I think you’re allowed.”

Leo picked at some grass at the foot of the tree and then stared out at the farmland across the lane. “So, what did I miss?”

“What do you mean?”

“With you and Gordon. I mean, I get that synths died...but it’s more than that, isn’t it?”

Mattie took a swig of water from her bottle in order to have time to collect her thoughts. “Leo, do you remember the rail yard? I mean, the original one...from before Day Zero…”

Leo’s brow furrowed in thought. “Max was creating a settlement there.”

Mattie nodded. “Flash was the pink-haired one. They loved each other.”

Leo looked back down the road in the direction of the synth settlement. “Oh, Maxie…”

“It’s no wonder he thought that he couldn’t protect us,” Mattie said.

She nudged Leo’s knee with the open water bottle. He took it from her and swallowed a few mouthfuls before handing it back. Mattie capped it and put it back in her bag. “Ready to go?” she asked as she stood up and shouldered her pack.

Leo looked up at her, squinting against the sun. “Mattie...Why are you doing this?”

Mattie tilted her head to the side as she looked down at him. “Doing what?”

Leo motioned with his hands in a vague attempt to express his thoughts. “Taking me home with you. Being nice to me. All of it.”

Mattie frowned and then knelt beside him. “Do you really not know?”

Leo shook his head.

With a ghost of a smile, Mattie reached out and cupped Leo’s jaw in her palm. She stroked her thumb along the stubble on his cheek and then leaned in to kiss the other, her mouth much closer to his lips than his ear. “Because I like you,” she murmured against his skin, and then with a chuckle she added, “Even if you _are_ a bit weird.”

Leo’s heart stutter-stepped and his skin burned where her kiss had marked it. A host of new possibilities blossomed in his mind; ones he’d never thought he’d ever experience, until now.

Mattie stood back up and wiped pine needles off the knees of her jeans. She thrust a hand down toward him and said, “Well, Sleeping Beauty, are you coming or what?”

Leo put his hand in hers and let Mattie help him to his feet. He had a new spring in his step, and his palm tingled long after she’d let go. With a smile, he replied, “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”


End file.
